Dallas Stars

[NoWayOut]

where do i find your prospects profiles there no way?

Right this way.....

http://prospects.dobbersports.com/Ta...Top-Prospects/

[NoWayOut]

You know how they say life is nothing but a series of compromises, well this week for me is proof of concept. With Thanksgiving the old work schedule got a tweak. No Tuesday night off so I won't be able to watch the game live and comment on it. Plus side I get a three day weekend, trade Tuesday night off for Thursday night off. With that in mind it may be sometime Thursday or Friday before I get to watch tonight's game. So for those of you who come around to read my take it won't be up tonight or tomorrow. That said on with the freak show....wait a minute that's a different forum.....

With Ryan Garbutt due back tonight from injury, Curtis McKenzie was sent back to Cedar Park yesterday. Not that you've been using him in your leagues but an interesting note nonetheless. With some more time to develop in the AHL he could be a sleeper in deep multi-cat leagues in the future. Think Roussel minus the PIM but with a bit more offense. Same motor, same nose for the dirty areas of the ice. McKenzie just doesn't get under the opponents skin like Roussel does, then again the french ball of hate excels at that.

Here's the projected lines and D pairings for tonight...


Benn - Eakin - Seguin
Roussel - Spezza - Hemsky
Moen - Fiddler - Eaves
Cole - Horcoff - Garbutt

Daley - Demers
Goligoski - Klingberg
Jokipakka - Oleksiak

Lehtonen

Don't sweat the second pairing for Klingberg. The Stars will lean on Daley and Demers to eat the most minutes 5-on-5, and Klingberg will get loads of special teams time. Last game in addition to the 6:39 of power play time, Ruff gave Klinger just shy of 3 minutes of PK time. He still saw 23 minutes overall so he's still getting plenty of usage it's just a sign of the trust he's earned to get the critical minutes, if not the most minutes.

This game does worry me a bit. We've seen that the mental demons are not totally conquered. They've won two in a row, and now here comes a shambling wreck into town. The guys lost to the worst road team in the league just a week ago, on home ice. This has the makings of a trap game, much like Carolina was. Granted the Stars were reeling when the Canes came into AAC, now they're playing better and with a bit of confidence, but that's the recipe for taking a team too lightly. Bad as they are, you can't take a win for granted against the Oilers any more than you can teams like the Kings, Pens, or any other top team. In spite of the evidence scattered in their wake this season I believe they will be ready for this one.

[potatoetree]

Jyrki Jokipakka has one of the greatest hockey names of all time

[larrylintz]

I like the "don't be cocky or you'll jinx them" but i am expecting Stars win big and I am really really really x10 hoping Hemsky gets two points, because i told a guy i'm trying to peddle him to that the Big Breakout is happening.

[NoWayOut]

Jyrki Jokipakka has one of the greatest hockey names of all time

For such a long name it is damn easy to spell. Not a lot of diversity in the number of different letters used.

He does kind of get lost in the Klingberg mania, but the kid has been solid and projects as good two-way type. Nowhere near the upside of Klingberg, or looking south, Honka, but he should be a steady defensive presence as he matures and grows his game and he may provide some offense as well. Naturally as a rookie he's had growing pains but nothing too bad. It just underscores how good Klingberg has been as a rookie.

[NoWayOut]

I like the "don't be cocky or you'll jinx them" but i am expecting Stars win big and I am really really really x10 hoping Hemsky gets two points, because i told a guy i'm trying to peddle him to that the Big Breakout is happening.

On the surface it's a game that Dallas should win. That's why it worries me. Same thing with Carolina. But I'm taking the positive approach and I believe they won't let lightning strike twice.

As far as Hemsky.....ahh....good luck with that. If he does, peddle him as fast as possible. I don't see any breakout coming at least nothing sustained. It's just going to be an assist here, two there, maybe a goal or two scattered amongst the ruins, long droughts in between. I hope he makes me eat my words, but I'd be shocked if he gets within sniffing range of 40 at this point. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Klingberg out-pointed him.....oh wait...he already has. (BURN!!)

[NoWayOut]

Okay, so I got a minute to check the site at work this morning and after seeing the gushing of the latest escapades of our favorite rookie I made time to watch the game.

In a lot of ways this was like a lot of games for them this season. Scrambly play in their own end at times and wayyy too many turnovers. But they got the win and that's all that matters for now.

- Klingberg. What can I say that hasn't been said a couple hundred times. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy the show....

- I thought Kari played a great game, but that Gordon goal pointed out the one thing that has plagued him all season. His rebound control hasn't been the best. Combine that with the brain farts the defense suffers in front of him and it's recipe for disaster. He let's out, to borrow from Razor, some succulent rebounds. If I get the time I want to go back and research just how many of the goals against him have come off rebounds. Seems like half or slightly more, but that could also be perception since the rebounds issue is so visible.

- Jokipakka. At least one other person agrees with me. Yesterday I mentioned how I thought he gets over-shadowed by Klingberg because Jryki plays a less flashy game. And then in the broadcast Razor makes an observation along those same lines. At times I wonder if I read things correctly since I never played the game myself and am completely self-taught about it, so it's kind of cool when people who know the game confirm what you thought.

He'll never grab your attention with highlight reel goals or amazing tape-to-tape passes but he plays a sound defensive game and that's just as valuable for the Stars. He has room to grow yet and he should be that steady two-way defenseman that is a key piece for any team. Him and Nemeth could make a very good shutdown pairing in years to come, assuming Nemeth doesn't get lost in the shuffle while he rehbs and both continue to develop as they have.

- I hate to see Eakin pulled off the Benn-Seguin line so soon. Man they clicked pretty good and quickly too. In the long run we all knew this wouldn't last forever but I was hoping it would continue for the bulk of this season anyway. Eakin is a very underrated two-way forward in my opinion. He just does everything well, his faceoff winning percentage does need to improve though, and he's one of their best all-around forwards.

[Pengwin7]

- I hate to see Eakin pulled off the Benn-Seguin line so soon. Man they clicked pretty good and quickly too. In the long run we all knew this wouldn't last forever but I was hoping it would continue for the bulk of this season anyway. Eakin is a very underrated two-way forward in my opinion. He just does everything well, his faceoff winning percentage does need to improve though, and he's one of their best all-around forwards.

Actually... I think Eakin will continue to center that line.
There was an article that Heika wrote and it got linked on Rotoworld to the effect that Eakin got "pulled from that line".

I thought that was strange (???) because Eakin has struck me as a perfect fit on that line.

I decided to go look at the game log's RTSS report on NHL.com (since I didn't watch this game):
http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreport...5/PL020319.HTM
20-91-14 (Eakin-Seguin-Benn) for the 1st period and start of 2nd.

With about 8min gone in the 2nd, Eakin appears to have been linked back on the "Pitbull Line" with Roussel and Garbutt.
16-20-21 (Garbutt-Eakin-Roussel)
Now... if one were to look across the page at the EDM numbers... here's what they'll see every time the Pitbull Line is out there:
14-93-4 (Eberle-RNH-Hall)

And throughout the 2nd and the 3rd... everytime it's EDM 14-93-14... across the page it's 16-20-21.
Now, I didn't see the game, but here's how I would interpret the Eakin-line-switch:
At 2-1, Ruff decided he would like to mark the only real scoring threat for EDM, their top line, with his grind line.
And they did an adequate job, though they were on the ice at 5:59 of the 3rd when Hall scored.

Now, since this was a home game for Dallas, they got last line change on stoppages, which means Ruff could match lines.

A team will still get its best players out there for end of the game and even though Eakin had played two shifts previous...
Look at the very last Dallas line combination of the game:
20-91-14 (Eakin-Seguin-Benn)

From the way I would interpret this, I think we'll continue to see Benn-Eakin-Seguin at line #1.
If Dallas can get a lead (and IF at home) we may see Ruff mark an opponents top line.

But... I read the Rotoworld link (via Heika article) as a Eakin demotion.
And I think most people would read it and interpret that Eakin is no longer the C1.

And... the numbers (game log) suggest its just the opposite... that Ruff may see Eakin as his #1 all-around center, both to center the top line and also to form the key mark line.

My prediction:
Eakin will be back at C1 on Friday when Dallas hosts Minnesota.
If Dallas can get out to another lead, you may see that Pitbull line reformed to mark Parise.

[NoWayOut]

Excellent analysis Pengwin.

My thought is this, Eakin's line, the Pitbulls, was the only line that Ruff did not tinker with at all, until Garbutt went down with that injury. Once Garbutt returned and showed he's healed enough to play his high energy style, boom, Ruff puts them back together and leaves them together for the remainder of the game. The fact that the Pitbulls were the most stable, and I'd argue consistent line in terms of what they bring, prior to Garbutt's injury it stands to reason Ruff would go back to them, and let's not overlook his professed love for that trio.

That said I still think Eakin was a great fit with the dynamic duo. Roussel pairs well with Spezza, though Hemsky just drags that whole trio down a notch. I wouldn't rule out Ruff returning to that arrangement but once he falls in love with something forget about it. I'd like to see him give it a bit more time to see where it goes and try to find the third wheel on the bottom two lines instead of the top two. I'll be curious to see how they arrange the lines in the morning skate tomorrow.

[NoWayOut]

To add to what I discussed earlier with regards to Ruff and the Pitbull line. Here's an additional couple of sentences that weren't part of Mike Heika's article, but were included in Mark Stepneski's piece on the game.....

"I didn’t think apart that [Ryan] Garbutt was getting much done and [Antoine] Roussel was getting much done. Eakin was, but I just thought that putting them back together would be a good thing.”

So this really doesn't preclude the idea of putting Eakin back with Benn and Sequin. But in an instant, if Ruff thinks any one of Garbutt, Eakin, or Roussel is struggling while on another line he will revert to putting them together. Tomorrow's morning skate will once again be a point of interest, which way will Ruff go? Your guess is good as mine after reading exactly why the switch.

[NoWayOut]

Interesting. I started to say that with Garbutt out for two, Eakin gets two more shots to make Ruff rethink things vis-a-vis having Opie centering the top line. They had a morning skate today it seems and, well, no Eakin with Benn and Sequin at least for now. I was surprised they had a morning skate today, but anyway here's the lines from that session...

Benn - Seguin - Eaves
Cole - Spezza - Hemsky
Roussel - Eakin - Sceviour
Horcoff - Fiddler - Moen

Garbutt was listed as an extra so, as Heika said in his tweet, read in to that what you will. Seems to me they knew what was coming or at least had an inkling. If that's the case Ruff seems hellbent on putting Eakin and Roussel together even without their other wingman. It's getting harder and harder to believe we'll see Eakin back on the top line for any long stretch. I still won't call it official until I see the lines from tomorrow's skate, if they have one. Or better yet until line rushes prior to the game.

[NoWayOut]

I should have made you a wager on Eakin, Pengwin. Projected lines for tonight....

Benn - Seguin - Eaves
Cole - Spezza - Hemsky
Roussel - Eakin - Sceviour/McKenzie
Horcoff - Fiddler - Moen

Daley - Demers
Goligoski - Klingberg
Jokipakka - Oleksiak

Lehtonen

Ruff just likes his Pitbulls too much to break them up.

Sceviour missed the morning skate due to illness so the Stars called up McKenzie. Heika is reporting Sceviour will be a game time decision. Based on returns so far hopefully they will go with McKenzie. He hasn't wowed on the scoresheet, just the lone goal and a minus-5, but McKenzie plays a style much closer to Garbutt's than does Sceviour. Frankly neither one has grabbed the opportunity presented them but I do believe if one finally can and then sustain it, it's more likely to be McKenzie.

And a heads up, you may wish to avert your eyes tomorrow night. Heika is also reporting that there's a high probability of Lindback in net against the Avs on Saturday.

[NoWayOut]

And it's Sceviour getting the start and not McKenzie. Not that there's a league out there where this is likely to have any effect whatsoever.....just saying.

[NoWayOut]

Kari coming up with the big save on the breakaway. Razor nailed it with the analysis. Why on earth is Klingberg alone with two Wild skaters in a puck battle in front of the Stars bench and three Stars standing back at the attack zone blueline just watching. That setup that breakaway. Brain farts....

And as I type that Minny scores on a bad job of handling the dump in.

[NoWayOut]

The book on how to beat the Stars has three chapters...

Chapter 1: Forecheck
Chapter 2: Forecheck
Chapter 3: Yeah....you see the pattern here.

Minnesota has read it cover to cover and comprehended well. Dallas just can't seem to figure out how to beat an aggressive forecheck.

It's going to be one of those nights. They just haven't looked good in any area really. The D was a bit soft on the coverage ahead of the Zucker goal as the Wild brought the puck in, and Benn was way soft on jumping on the rebound.